There's more to Ava's life than what people can really see. Behind her beauty, is the personality of a pure angel. But when her looks become a "threat" to a dark angel, he wants her. He wants to keep her hidden from the rest of the world. He wants her to be cast away from all eyes...he wants her as his slave.

Fredrik Ljungberg can't get her himself. He ends up hiring two attractive orphan boys to help him, while offering them a place to stay, and a highly paid wage. Carter and Marshall agree, not knowing what they're getting into.

But among the midst of the attacks, Carter and Marshall start seeing the true beauty in Ava. They can't help but fall in love with her. But after seeing the little kindness in the boys, Ava finds herself falling for them.
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Chapters:

I stayed hidden among the bushes. I wasn't going to take any
chances. I needed to get away again, and if that meant sitting
here and waiting for them to go away, then I will.

I watched Carter and Marshall crawl out of the little hole. I
remembered that I completely dove through…staying low. I could
feel my arms starting to burn now that I thought about it.

Carter pointed out behind me and told Marshall to go that way. He
himself went the other way. I watched them split up, and then my
eyes were caught on Marshall. He was walking towards the bush. He
was getting closer!

Shit, I hope he doesn't see me! *I've been swearing a lot
lately…. Why have I been swearing? Seriously though, I don't
normally say shit. I really don't…. Shut up Ava! If you
keep thinking right now, you're gonna get caught!* I shook my
head, wiping away my thoughts. I forgot I was in a bush. The
leaves rustled as Marshall walked by, and he stopped. He took a
few steps back and stared at the bush.

I could tell he sensed me cause he smiled.

I blinked the tears away from my eyes. I went to get up when he
cleared his throat. I looked up at him and he was lightly shaking
his head "no."

I looked through the thinning leaves with a puzzled look. He
mouthed the words, "you're not really here." He winked at me and
then he walked away.

My heart skipped a few beats as I tried to process what just
happened. Did Marshall just do what I think he did? Did he
seriously just let me slip away from them? I never thought that
those boys could be nice.

I stared at Marshall as he ventured farther off into the woods.
He looked back at my position and he gave me some sort of wave. I
wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a sign or something, but I
took it as such.

I crawled quietly out of my little bush, and I slowly made my way
towards the street that led to the construction place. I finally
got to the shoulder, and I made my way quickly across the street.
If I follow this road, it'll lead me straight into town. It
wasn't far at all.

~~Marshall~~

I can't believe I just let her get away. There's no way in hell
that Carter or Fred could possibly know, right? I mean, it's not
like Fredrik can read minds or anything like that.

I'm sick of chasing after this girl. She really is a nice
person…*and she really is beautiful. I think I'm starting
too-MARSHALL JUST STOP! DON'T EVEN SAY IT!* I continued going
through the woods. I stopped when I heard my name being called
from a distant place.

It was Carter, and I could hear his footsteps rushing towards me.
I stopped and turned around, right as Carter jumped on me and
tackled me to the ground.

"Carter what the hell are you doing?"

"Marshall!" He was trying desperately to catch his breath.

"Carter slow down! What the hell are you trying to say?"

"Marshall I think I know where she went!"

I pretended to be surprised. "What?! Where?!"

He grabbed my arm "Come on, follow me!" He ran me back over to
where he was looking and he showed me what looked like "heel
tracks" in the dirt.

"Carter," I said, not able to hold in my laugh anymore, "that's a
fucking deer track!" I pointed at the marks of the deer hooves on
the ground, and he punched me in the arm. "What the hell was that
for?"

"You're laughing at me dude!" Carter shot me a serious look, and
pointed back in the direction that I'd been looking to begin
with. I casually walked away from him, still laughing to myself.
What an idiot Carter was.

I looked at the bush where Ava had been. I couldn't help but
think to myself…why I had let her go to begin with.

~~Ava~~

The town was quiet, as it always was at night. There was never
anything that happened here…except for…well I dunno…ME BEING
STALKED TO MY OWN SCHOOL! I ran across the park; the same park
that I was trapped in a while ago. I hated this place now….

I ran my normal way home, and I knew that I wasn't being
followed. There were no voices or footsteps, or even vehicles
following me this time. Maybe this time I finally got away.

But I didn't turn that familiar corner down my street. I didn't
take that familiar route to my front door. Instead, I ran down a
few more streets until I saw another familiar house. I wasn't
sure what time it was, but there was still a light on in the
house.

I looked like crap, but I really didn't care.

I ran up to the front door of that house and I knocked, lightly
at first. I waited a few seconds before I knocked again, this
time louder. There were faint footsteps that I could hear, and
finally the door opened. I looked at Mr. Marks as he smiled when
he saw me.

"Ava Lynn, I haven't seen you in a while!" He embraced me in a
hug as he ushered me in. "Ava you're soaking wet! Why are you
soaking wet?" He turned around and stuck his head into the living
room, and I could tell that he was talking to his wife. "Marilyn
can you go grab a towel? Ava's here and she's soaking wet." The
footsteps in the other room were quick to get up.

About 30 seconds later, she was walking through the doorway with
a nice clean dry towel. She wrapped it around me as she embraced
me in a hug as well. "Ava! It's been so long since you've been
over!" She paused for a second and I could tell both Mr. and Mrs.
Marks were wondering the same question.

"They ushered me into the living room, and sat me down on a hard
wooden chair…probably so I wouldn't get any of their davenport
wet.

"Well," I started, "I was running out of this restaurant tonight
because it was just really awkward. They were trying to chase
after me, and I ended up falling into the river trying to get
away." I had a slight smile on my face as I told them about how
Jed was supposed to be there with me tonight, but never showed
up. I could see the horror on their faces as they realized
something was up.

"That just doesn't sound like Jed," Marilyn said. "He's very good
at sticking to plans." She shook her head. "Do you know where he
is Ava? Have you seen him at all tonight?"

I shook my head and I felt a tear coming to my eye. "I haven't
seen him since he brought me home from school. He left saying
that he would be over in a couple of hours, but he never showed
up."

"Oh Allen," cried Marilyn as she turned to her husband, "we have
to go out and look for him. Who knows where he could be, or what
trouble could be lurking at this hour! We need to go out and get
our son Allen." I could see the tears spilling out of her eyes.

I knew she was extremely upset. Not just by the tears, but that
fact that Jed always told his parents everything. They always
knew where Jed was, and if he wasn't with me, then that means
something bad has happened.

Allen put his arm around his wife's shoulder as he pulled her
close. "It's alright Marilyn, we'll get in the car and we'll go
out and look for him. I'm going to go get Sophia and get her in
the car as well."

"Allen there's no need for that. She's a big girl. She can stay
here, can't she?"

Allen shook his head. "If Jed's in any sort of trouble, I don't
want our daughter sitting here all by herself."

I cleared my throat. "I could always sit with her if you'd like
Mr. Marks."

He smiled at me. "Ava, you know how much we'd appreciate that."
He tightened his grip on his wife's shoulders. "But I would
rather have you come with us as well. That way whenever we find
him, we can drop you off at home instead of having you wandering
around at this hour."

I nodded at his wise words. Marilyn got up from the couch and
walked up the stairs to get Sophia.

Sophia was another little blonde, just like me. She was the
sweetest little girl with the greatest manners. She was in the
fourth grade, but she had the sweetest relationship with her
brother. She always loved seeing me, but she loved seeing her
brother more…which is understandable.

Sophia slumped down the stairs rubbing her eyes. When she could
finally see, she waved at me, with a sleepy smile on her face. I
didn't hug her, mostly because I was still wet. I took the towel
off, and walked to put it in the bathroom. I could hear something
coming from outside, so I looked out the window.

I could see a faint movement from the hedges in the backyard.
There's no way…there's just no way….

I quickly ran out of the bathroom, shutting off the light and
slamming the door behind me. I turned around, staring at the door
and walking backwards.

"Is everything alright Ava?" I bumped right into Mr. Marks. I
jumped as I turned around and brought my hand to my mouth to keep
me from screaming my lungs out.

I nodded at him. "Yeah, I just…thought I saw something spooky."

We didn't speak as we all filed out of the house. Mr. Marks
securely locked up the house as we all walked off the porch
steps. We walked over to the SUV in the driveway and piled in.
Mr. Marks was the last one to get into the car.

"Alright everyone, if there's any place you think he could be,
you let me know." We all nodded and agreed to his words. "Now,
keep your eyes peeled. There's been something strange going on in
this town, and I'm not letting my son get involved in it."

Those final words tickled my brain. Mr. Marks says there's
something strange going on in town…what could possibly be going
on in town? I haven't noticed anything weird going on, but then
again, I've had my own weirdness to deal with. Maybe it has
something to do with Fredrik. But I'm probably thinking about it
too much. We need to find Jed.